François Morellet
Born in 1926 in Cholet (France), FRANÇOIS MORELLET lived and worked there until he passed away, in May 2016. He has devoted most of his career to the radical exploration of geometric abstraction. A founding member in 1960 of the Visual Art Research Group (GRAV), he has multiplied the types of visual intervention, from painting on frames to projects in the city’s architecture called “Disintegrations”. What determines Morellet’s approach is the play with frames, the development of many systems, the irony brought by the titles and the use of the random within preestablished principles. Kamel Mennour first exhibited his work in 2009.
Morellet participated extensively in international group exhibitions, including documenta III. (1964), 4. (1968), and 6 (1977), as well as in the Venice Biennale in 1970. His work has been comprehensively presented over the past decades, with a major retrospective at Centre Pompidou in 2011 and more recent personal and group shows at Kunstmuseum Ahlen (2015); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen (2015); MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine (2015); Maison Rouge, Paris (2014); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (2014); Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2014); Espace de l’Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux (2014); Museum Biedermann, Donaueschingen (2014); La Usina del Arte, Buenos Aires (2014); Museo Tamayo, Mexico (2014); Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Nice (2014); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK), Ghent (2014); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (2014), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2013); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Cambrai (2013); Musée d’Art Moderne André Malraux, Le Havre (2013); Le Box, Marseilles (2013); Centre National Edition Art Image, Chatou (2013); Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseilles (2013); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Saint Restitut (2013); Centre d’art Contemporain Frank Popper, Marcigny (2013); Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2013); Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserlautern (2013); Kröller-Muller Museum, Otterlo (2013); Le Plateau, Lyon (2013); Bass Museum, Miami (2013); Bundestag, Berlin (2013); Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia (2013); Foundation Emile Hugues, Vence (2013); Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Carjac (2013); Hayward Gallery, London (2013); Centre Pompidou Metz (2013); The Mayor Gallery, London (2012); Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen (2012); Stiftung Kunstmuseum, Stuttgart (2012); New Museum, New York (2012); Musée des Beaux-Arts, La-Chaux-de-Fonds (2012); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dole (2012); La Maison Rouge, Paris (2012).
Morellet was awarded the Peter C Ruppert Prize for Concrete Art in Europe in 2008.
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